Life course theories look at such issues as the onset of
delinquency, escalation of offenses, continuity of delinquency, and desistance form
delinquency.

The concept of problem behavior syndrome
suggests that criminality may be just one of a cluster of social, psychological, and
physical problems.

There is more than one pathway to delinquency.

Adolescent-limited offenders begin offending
late and age out of delinquency. Life course persisters exhibit early onset of delinquency
that persists into adulthood.

Life Course Theories

The Social Development Model

Prosocial Bonds

Interactional Theory

Focus on Preventing and Treating
Delinquency: Across Ages

Age-Graded Theory

Turning Points

Social Capital

Testing Age-Graded Theory

What Does This Mean to Me? Family Ties

Checkpoints

Life course theories attempt to integrate
social, personal, and environmental factors into detailed explanation of the onset and
persistence of delinquent careers.

The social development model (SDM) integrates social control,
social learning, and structural models.

According to interactional theory, the
causes of crime are bidirectional. Weak bonds lead kids to acquire deviant peer relations
and engage in delinquency, delinquency weakens conventional bonds and strengthens
relations with deviant peers.

According to age-graded theory, building
social capital and strong social bonds reduces the likelihood of long-term deviance. As
people go through their life course the factors that influence their behavior undergo
change.

The Latent Trait View

Latent Trait

General Theory of Crime (GTC)

The Act and the Offender

Focus on Preventing and Treating
Delinquency: Tracking Down Five Hundred Delinquent Boys in the New Millennium

What Makes People Delinquency-Prone?

Self-Control

Impulsive

Self-Control and Delinquency

Supporting Evidence for the GTC

Analyzing the GTC

Checkpoints

Latent trait theories assume a physical or
psychological trait makes some people delinquency-prone.